A Million Faces
by albianshoshi
Summary: This is the story of Amber Night, a young woman on her way to become a huntress. The whole story takes place 5 years before the events of the RWBY series.
1. Chapter 1

'It's so comfy and warm here...' she thought to herself.

Some birds could be heard outside and the summer breeze tenderly moved the leafage. She could tell that the sun has rising already due to the heat in the tent. 'Perfect day to be lazy' she thought with a small smile on her lips.

While she sunk back into the land of dreams something outside moved, something big. It entered the tent watching the poor defenseless girl in her sleep. "Unbelievable" the creature said.

'Splash'

Amber woke up in a shock feeling the cold water on her.

"WHAT THE HELL! ARE YOU CRAZY!?" She looked in an old and bearded face.

"You're late Amber, I thought I said we're doing endurance today? Get moving Girl!" he demanded and left the tent leaving the girl soaked wet in her sleeping bed.

"You're an asshole, you know that?" Amber yelled after him. After slowly standing up she decided to take a bath in the river nearby and changing her clothes the fourth time this week.

'I swear if he keeps up this pace I have to train naked some of these days.' she thought while putting on her pants.

Damian was actually a nice and kind man, at least that's what his wife Kelly uses to say. The old couple makes a living though trading of cloth and sometimes some ores, but in his young days Damian used to be a Hunter and a pretty decent one at that.

"I bet that's the only reason he dares travelling through this forests." She said to herself.

Indeed the forests of Vale did undergo quite the change, for the number of Grimm here rose dramatically in the last few years. Damian was one of the last peddlers who was brave enough to visit the small villages outside the reach of the big cities.

Amber washed her face in the river and she saw her reflection. Her most striking trait probably were her blue hair. Other than that she had deep black eyes and pale skin. Kelly always told her how beautiful she looked and that she will grow to an even more beautiful woman.

She blushed a bit while thinking about it but even she thought that she was quite pretty. The slender bluenette stood up and headed to the camp where Kelly already made breakfast. Kelly wasn't only a nice and caring woman, but also an outstanding cook.

'Guess that explains Domains big paunch.' she thought while giggling a bit.

"Good morning, Love. You look relaxed" Kelly's deep green eyes almost shined today and her smile would've turn any Grimm into a gentle pup.

"Really? Because Damian woke me up with water Kelly, friggin' cold water."Amber explained while looking around scanning the area for Damian.

'Don't need another lecture about respect.' she thought.

"He means well Amber, he's only so hard on you because he wants you to be ready to protect yourself, you know he loves you like a daughter, right?" she smiled. Amber sighed.

"Yeah I know, doesn't make it easier though." It was damn hard to argue with Kelly. She had such a comforting aura about her, it was impossible to be mad near her.

Amber and Kelly both ate breakfast. There were eggs and sausages which Kelly had cooked to perfection.

"I swear you could even make underwear taste like a five star dish." Amber said while digging in fast knowing that Damian would be back soon, and then it would be time for another six hours of training, like every day.

Damian returned from his morning routine right after Amber finished eating.

"You done? I checked the forest and there are no Grimm nearby, so hurry up. "he declared. Amber rolled her eyes while standing up.

"You know, you could give me a day or two off sometimes. It would raise my moral." she jested knowing that he would never allow it. He gave her the usual look which was a combination of anger and disbelief. She already learned in her six months with the couple that it meant to better get going.

On the day Damian found Amber she was weak and alone, almost starved to death. Kelly took pity on her and took care of her until she was up and running again. After some talking with Kelly, she told Amber that her husband used to be a pro hunter. It was like a new spark of life ignited that day inside of Amber. She asked Damian so many times to teach her how to be a huntress that eventually he gave in under the condition that she would obey every of his orders. She accepted quickly not knowing that the following six months would be the hardest of her life. Each day training and no resting time between the lessons. She would start training in the morning and end it late afternoon completely exhausted, throwing up almost every time in the first weeks. But despite all her complaining she never gave up and ended each lesson with Damian satisfied.

He was a hard teacher, yes, but a good one too. Due to his training Amber got quicker and stronger than ever before in her life. What she lacked in raw power she made up with her flexibility and speed. Damian examined her in the first days and declared that she didn't have the body to be a "All in" fighter, but that she needed to learn to defeat her foes with her other skills. And beside her swiftness Amber was unimaginable intelligent. Her greatest weapon always had been her mind, for she had been blessed with outstanding cleverness. Back in her schooldays she was always the shy girl which didn't had that many friends but the best grades.

'That was another life' she thought to herself wondering why her mind brought it up now. Her schooldays didn't have a nice and sweet ending with a big graduation and tears of joy. Her time at her school ended early with blood and tears of pain and grief.

* * *

It all started almost a year ago, back then she still had auburn hair and blue eyes. She also wasn't as pretty as she's now, at least that's what she keeps thinking. Back then she didn't go as Amber Night, but as Claire Vert and she was living the city of Mantoi in Vacou. Mantoi was a rather large city placed right at the border of Vale so it had people in there from both kingdoms which made it a big trading place.

People in Mantoi always had their mind on more, on the next big deal, whether with legal work or by all means necessary. The city had a big underground circle and the crime rate was not to be scoffed at. You could find dust dealers in every corner and the police didn't seem to do anything about it. Most likely because they all were bribed.

Claire lived in a quite decent house in the middle of the city, close to the office sector of Mantoi. Her father, Luka, used to be a hunter in his young days but after he married Marie he settled down with her, working in a big law firm. Claire's mother was a well known author for psychology. People didn't just read her books, they lived them. Her older Brother, Jacque, was a picture of an athlete, big, muscular and he had quite the impact on women. Their parents already made arrangements for him to join the Sport-Academy of Mantoi. Claire's younger sister on the other hand was a bit of a troublemaker, she would annoy people so long till she got her way. And usually it didn't take long.

Claire herself never was a problem child. She could take care of herself, she cooked for her family and did all of the chores because no one else would do it. All in all you could say that her family wasn't exactly caring, because everyone was just looking for their big dream, which wasn't wrong she thought to herself, but it would've been nice from time to time to have at least a nice conversation while eating dinner. But that was her life. Her family gave her all the opportunities to make a name for herself and she intended to do so.

Her school life was rather boring, because she would always hit the top marks and after that she would simply go home and deal with her boredom. It changed when she realized that she had a Semblance, like all the hunters and huntresses in the stories had. She noticed it the first time when she was sad because she had short hair and thought to herself that if she had longer hair she would be happy again. On the next day she woke up and almost punched the mirror after seeing a long haired girl in it only to realize that it was herself.

After that she got curious and started doing what every good scientist would do, she started experimenting on herself.

First she determined the nature of her Semblance using books and the internet and she came to the conclusion that her Semblance made it possible for her to change her appearance. She almost busted with joy when she found out, finally something interesting in my life.

It took her almost 4 months to learn everything about her Semblance she could. She was able to change her appearance, but more than that, she could also change it to the appearance of anyone she had enough contact with, to allow her Semblance to scan the information of the Dna of her target. She never found out how exactly it works but her body saves all the information just like in a giant library and she could just borrow the information whenever she wanted. But there were some limitations. Small changes like eye color or length of the hair were simple and didn't take as much energy as a change of the whole body. To change into another girl entirely it would take a large amount of energy and on top of that, she would experience a great deal of pain for the whole procedure. The most painful experience she had was after she decided to change into her brother. It almost felt like dying and in the end she couldn't change back for almost four days. So she figured that a change of gender took a great toll of her body and it needed a lot of rest. She feared that anyone would see her like that but no one even cared, she was just another face in the big mass. Not even her family noticed, which made her happy somehow, because she had her little secret now and could use it whenever she wanted. She also learned that the best way to get the information of another one's body was through a kiss, which wasn't as easy as it sounds, because Claire was afraid of confrontations like that. With her family it was easy, she kissed her mother and father all the time, not knowing if they even cared. Her grandparents and aunts were different story, they were always happy to see her, so she used that to learn more about her powers. That's when she discovered that a kiss was the best and easiest way to copy someone's Dna. 'And if i look like someone else I can copy anyone else I like, and they'll never notice it's me' she thought to herself. She gave her Semblance the fitting name 'Million Faces'.

She spent most of her free time now collecting Dna of everyone she could, somewhere easy, somewhere quite difficult but it was a rush all the time. Never before she felt more alive, but she had to hide it, so during the week she was the good and nice girl but on the weekend she hunted for other people. She felt so powerful while thinking what she could do with her Semblance, but in the end she could never man up to do any of it.

'I'm just a little girl, no way I could simply take over someone's life or use my powers to benefit myself.'

She kept living like that for quite some time, until it was graduation year and she started thinking what she wanted to do with her life. She never thought about it, but on the other hand, she didn't have to, for her parents already arranged meetings with the top schools in every kingdom. They planned for her to be a scientist, because it would look good in the family picture.

She hated it, she hated everything of it.

It was a warm late summer night when she just couldn't deal with it and decided to go out alone. She wasn't allowed to drink, but one of her many faces would be.

She already had prepared some fake ID's for her favorite faces and changed into an older version of herself. At least she wished that she would look like that when she was older. After taking her purse she sneaked out of her house which wasn't exactly a challenge.

'The soft Petal' became her favorite bar over the weeks. It was a cozy little bar, which gave the visitors a feeling of home. The bar had an own band who played always slow and comforting songs making this bar the perfect spot to just calm down after a hard week.

"Ah Claire Darling, how are you? You just look awesome." the barkeeper said. He was a good looking man with black hair which had some green highlights and yellow eyes.

"Hey Antoine, thanks'. You look good yourself. How's work today?" Antoine quickly became Claire's best friend. He was gentle and caring and always looked out for Claire when he could.

"Oh stop it you! You noticed the new scarf? It's silk. And for work, it's the same as always, I'm serving drinks while waiting for my prince. The usual love?" he said.

Antoine was quite frank about his homosexuality. It always impressed Claire, she thought that Antoine must be the bravest person in the world and she loved that about him. He was her rock in the surf, always there when she was sad and she tried to be the same for him, which didn't work that well because he never seemed to have any problems.

"Yes please, I had a hell of a day, i tell you, my parents still are trying to push me into science, i mean it's a good idea, but i want to make my own decisions." Antoine placed a Chocolate Monkey on the counter.

"Well you are old enough to make your own decisions honey, i know you love your parents but wouldn't it be better to make your own dreams come true? In the end you have to live your own life, so make sure you're happy with it."

'I need to tell him one of these days that I'm actually just a teenager' she thought to herself.

Claire took a sip of the drink, it was sweet, just like she liked it, and it didn't contained that much alcohol that she would lose it.

"Yeah you're right, but my parents gave me everything, I just..." she paused and sighed

"I just want them to be proud of me." She looked into her glass and watched the little bubbles in her drink.

Antoine placed a hand on Claire's shoulder.

"Your parents are proud of you, i mean just look at you, you are beautiful, smart, much smarter than me and you care for other people so much. How could they not be proud of you?" he smiled.

She felt like she had a knot in her stomach after hearing these words, realizing that she was lying to such a wonderful person, and she dared calling herself his friend. She felt sick, and disgusted by herself.

'How can I find out what I truly want if I can't be true to the people I cherish?' she thought to herself. She wanted to tell him everything, all about her and her Semblance, she just wanted to cry in his arms and hear some comforting words. Instead she took another sip of her drink and smiled. "Thank you Antoine, you are the best. I feel much better now."

This was her usual game. She's gotten quite good at acting, knowing that with her Semblance she needed to be able to lie and act as good as she could.

'One of those days...' she thought again.

It was this very moment that should change her whole life.

The door of the bar opened and a young woman with blue hair and a big smile entered the bar, her eyes as black as a crow. 'She is so beautiful' Claire thought.

The bluenette took a seat next to Claire.

"Hey Antoine, the usual please." she said with a small wink. Antoine brought a Piña Colada with a lot of fruits on top.

"Here you go honey, hope you like it." he said.

"Antoine, don't be so modest, we all know that you're the best bar keeper in this damned city" she started drinking and realized that the woman next to her was watching her.

"Hi, i think we don't know each other, I'm Amber, Amber Night." she offered her hand. Claire still amazed and stunned didn't realize that she was talking to her until she saw the hand in front of her.

"Oh, yeah, sorry, Claire, I mean my name is Claire, Claire Vert to be exact." she stuttered taking the hand and shaking it a bit too enthusiastic.

'The hell is wrong with you? Just be nice, stop acting...weird.' she commanded herself. The soft looking lips of Amber formed into a gentle smile releasing some words which Claire didn't pick up.

'She looks so beautiful..., wait! Did she talk to me? OH MY GOD! What did she say?' she screamed internally.

"You ok there? Antoine she looks pale, you have something to eat for her? My treat." Amber said while still holding Claire's hand, afraid that she might fall over if she were to let go.

"Sure, i get you two something fast, just wait a second." Antoine disappeared into the kitchen.

Amber turned to Claire touching her forehead with hers to check the temperature.

"You don't seem to have fever, guess you are just exhausted." she said while Claire felt herself blushing like a tomato.

"Uhh, yeah, I...I guess that's it, hehe" she said trying to act cool again which looked adorably clumsy in Ambers eyes.

"Well then, don't worry, I ordered something to eat for us. You still need to hold on?" Claire didn't understand what she meant until Amber pointed on her hands still holding on to each other. Claire released Amber of her grip in an instance almost falling over.

"I'm terribly sorry, usually I'm not that much of a, well, klutz." she tried to explain. She wished that the ground would open and simply swallow her up.

"Don't worry, I think it's cute." Amber said with a wink. Claire's heart skipped a beat.

'What is wrong with me?'

"Sorry to keep you waiting, but i didn't have anything else" Antoine returned with a plate filled with sweets.

"I have sold my last sandwich a few hours ago." he explained.

"It's fine, she's feeling better already I think, and a bit sugar should get her up and running again." Amber said with a little laugh.

"Well? Dig in, you'll need it." she said to Claire while taking a Cookie and eating it.

"Oh! Yeah, thank you. I didn't realize how hungry I were." Claire said trying to explain her behavior. Antoine's sweets were the best she had eaten in her whole life and more important, they were the best fuel for her semblance.

Amber stood up and drank her cocktail.

"That was good, well Antoine, I'll be back tomorrow, gotta do some work." she said while leaving some lien on the counter.

"Keep the change."

Claire realized that Amber were about to leave. Her brain simply reacted

"Wait! You're going already?"

"Yeah, sorry, I just came here for a little break." Amber noticed the disappointment in Claire's look.

"But don't worry, I'm here almost every day, around the same time, so if you want to, I don't know..., hang out or something like that, you know where to find me." she said with a bright smile and left.

"Yeah, I will, see you!" Claire said feeling like she could hug the whole world.

"Oh my god Antoine, who was that? She was so beautiful." Claire turned to Antoine with a bright smile.

"My my, I didn't know that you were into women Claire, you never told me" Antoine said while giggling while playing with his scarf.

'Is he right? Am I into women...?' She never thought about it, because she never felt anything special for someone else.

"I don't know, I just, I think I like her." she claimed.

"Ah young love, well then, her name is Amber Night and she just moved here a few months ago. I think she came here from Atlas, but I'm not sure. She's a really sweet and nice girl, no surprise you like her, everyone does." he said.

"She's learning in an art school I think, but she told me she always wanted to be a huntress. And that's about all I know, you best ask her yourself." he said with a little smile on his lips.

'Don't know why, but i want to get to know her, no i NEED to get to know her!' she thought.

"Thank you Antoine! I love you so much!" she hugged him, paid quickly and ran off.

"I see you next time."

When she arrived home all her thoughts were revolving around Amber. She had something about her that caught Claire's interest. Something she never felt before in her entire life.

'What is this feeling I have? Could this be love?' she asked herself.

With that and a small smile on her lips she changed into her normal self and layed down to sleep. She still had school tomorrow, so she should get some rest.

This night her dreams were filled with Amber Night and Claire's ideas of love. Her sleep has never been sweeter.


	2. Chapter 2

"Think you can take him?" Damian asked. Pitch-black fur, glowing red eyes filled with endless hunger and furry. Claws as big as a little child ready to slaughter anything foolish enough to cross their path.

"Sure, it's only about three times the size of me!" Amber said with a sarcastic undertone.

'How does he expect me to take on this monster on my own?' she thought, imagining what this beast could do to her and it wasn't pretty. Damian cracked a smile and said "C'mon, it's just a Beowolf, and he's alone, don't you wanna go and play with him?" patting her back like a little girls, afraid of going in the new class with the new children back in school.

"Don't treat me like a child, old man! I'll show you how I deal with that puppy!" before realizing what she just said she already started sneaking close to the Beowolf hiding herself behind the big trees surrounding them.

'The old geezer must have the fun of his life up there. What does he think? Making me fight a Grimm?!' she thought to herself, still mad at Damian for making her do this and even more mad at herself for falling for his tricks.

The weapons she wielded belonged to her father, who never used them since he got his new job, so she figured he didn't need them at all. It was a poor excuse to take his belongings, but in the end, she already did worse things when she was younger.

Her father build himself a high caliber revolver back when he was a student, with a long sharp knife on the lower side of the barrel, so he could use it to cut and hit his foes. The revolver itself had eight loading chambers which could be loaded with regular bullets or with dust bullets for more effective attacks. Damian thought her how to make her own ammunition explaining that a good hunter always should know how to resupply himself if he has no other choice.

'It sure was a valuable skill to learn.' Amber figured. The revolver was named 'Mercy', which in Ambers mind sounded quite ironic, based on the nature of the weapon. Her father named it that way, due to his love of finishing his opponents with it after speaking a little prayer.

Her favorite weapon though was her sword-gauntlet on her right arm. The blade itself was as long as her forearm and made out of some material she had never seen before. Not even Damian could determine its nature, but he said there's more to it than meets the eye. The blade would eject itself whenever Amber thought about it and cover the top of her right arm. She didn't know how the mechanism itself worked, but she thought it didn't matter, as long as it worked as intend. The whole blade was covered with Runes, which didn't make any sense to her, but she thought they looked nice, and during a fight she could've sworn that they sometimes would shine. The gauntlet on which the blade was attached was long enough to cover her entire right forearm. It was made of the same material as the blade and would make it possible for Amber to parry attacks, if she was fast enough that is. Nightfall, as the blade was named, didn't have any special tricks like other weapons did, or at least none which she knew. It was a simple yet deadly weapon, perfectly designed for her combat style. Her father once told her that it was a family heirloom, passed down over almost 7 generations. She wasn't quite sure if she believed him because the weapon was in excellent condition.

Even though other people would have those fancy weapons with different forms and other special skills, she wouldn't dream of changing her gear, not because it was her father's equipment, but since the first time she saw them, they simply would catch her attention. It was like love on the first sight.

'Time for some killing i guess' she thought as she looked at the Beowolf while hiding behind some trees. Her mind raced with ideas on how to get the job done fast and she came to the conclusion that a drop from one of the trees would be the best way to keep it as safe as possible. She was a good climber so it wasn't that big of a deal to get atop of one of the trees. The Grimm was right below her, not moving. 'Probably waiting for its pack.' she thought.

Nightfall activated and presented itself in its whole glory.

'One clean hit through the neck and it's done.' she decided. Damian taught her that a good and safe way to deal with a Grimm usually is a good old decapitation.

"Ever seen a Grimm without a head? That's because even those mindless killing machines need a brain, or what's left of it." he said to her when he killed a Grimm in front of her as a lesson of the anatomy of a common Grimm.

Amber closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

'Here goes nothing...' she thought when she dropped down aiming for the beasts head. Everything went in slow motion. In a split second the beast turned around and faced her, the red eyes almost burning through her, then she felt immense pain on her right side.

Still not sure what happened she found herself laying at a tree, in front of her the Beowolf watching her, almost as if he enjoyed it to watch her like this.

'What the hell was that? How did it know I was there?' she thought. She traced the pain back to its source only to find the spot the monster dug its claws into her flesh. Blood ran down her side and she felt panic rising in her.

'I'm bleeding? How can that be? My plan was perfect, it couldn't have known that I were there!' She scanned the place for Damian in an attack of fear, but there was no trace of him.

'SHIT! Is he going to leave me die here? Where are you Damian, please help me you asshole!' she couldn't think straight. The Beowolf came closer to her, knowing that its pray wouldn't be able to run away it seemed to enjoy this game of fear and panic. She tried to find Mercy, but due to the crash it must've been thrown out of the holster.

Like a warm shower the blood rained all over her. The red glow in the beasts eyes slowly faded as it toppled down to the ground. A black sword was stuck in its chest, a sword she already knew well. Damian drew his sword back and decided to decapitate the beast out of an old habit. He sheathed his sword and looked down at Amber. She was sure he would be mad at her as she looked into his face, but there was no anger, no rage. It was something she never saw on his face before, it looked like fear and concern. Without a word he picked her up and ran with her back into camp.

There she was, the brilliant strategist as Damian referred to her once, in the arms of the man she only caused trouble for, bleeding like a pig and not able to do anything due to her fear. She lost consciousness after a while.

It was warm and smelled like pinecones and chamomile. She opened her eyes slowly and found herself in her tent. Her wounds were bandaged and the pain in her side was almost gone completely. The ripped clothes were folded on the right side and she could see that her top was ripped.

'Damn, Kelly is going to kill me, I ruined another shirt' she thought as she slowly tried to get up. She managed stand and slowly walked to the exit. As she left the tent a cold breeze caressed her skin and she saw it was already night. The shattered moon stood high in the night sky and illuminated the forest which looked lovely in this light. Amber noticed a fireplace and Damian sitting with his back to her. He just sat there and polished his sword. It was a giant claymore, which was heavy enough to slice through the skin of a Death Stalker if Damian wanted to, but he didn't use his sword that often, because his semblance usually would get the job done. He named his sword 'Purifier' because it's purpose was the purification of the Grimm, Damian told her once.

Amber sat down next to him and smiled at Damian.

"Sorry about today, I don't know what happened. I thought my plan would work." she confessed.

"Well,..., I'm just happy to see that you're better now. Kelly,..., she was quite worried about you. She stayed with you for two days." he said not lifting his eyes from the fireplace.

"Yeah Kelly is awesome." she smiled when it hit her.

"Wait! two days? How long was I down?" she looked shocked at Damian who finally looked at her. His eyes were filled with concern and relief.

"You lost a lot of blood. If it weren't for Kelly,..., well,..." he said.

"Three days. you were sleeping for three days. She stayed with you till she fell asleep from exhaustion. Then I watched over you." he explained.

'Three days? How was that possible? It was only a Beowolf, and it didn't even hit me that much. And my Aura should've healed me faster.' she thought.

"What exactly happened back there Damian. I know my plan was solid. It should've worked. I mean it didn't know I was there!" she demanded. Damian simply sighted.

"Sometimes even our best plans don't work the way we want. Your plan was good, yeah. But the Beowolf had luck, plain and simple. It just turned around in the right time to notice you." he looked at her while she tried to wrap her mind around the new information's.

"That's it? Luck? You really expect me to believe that it simply had luck? I'm not buying it Damian, no one can have that much luck!" she felt tears in her eyes and pain in her side.

"Luck isn't something you can simply control Amber. Even the best plan in the world can backfire if the target get's lucky. No one could've expected that. Even i thought it would be an easy kill. But in the end your plan failed because that Grimm had luck. Don't beat yourself up." he said to Amber.

'LUCK?! But my plan was...' her thoughts raced.

'Maybe my plan was crap and he's patronizing me now...' she felt tears rolling down her cheeks as she sat there.

"I'm going for a walk, excuse me..." she said. She just wanted to be somewhere else.

'Why are you crying you idiot! You failed, so just do it better the next time.' she commanded herself. That's right. Better, always better. Just like her parents expected her to be. She found a small creek and decided to sit down there. She closed her eyes and just wanted to sleep, but her mind decided to make her remember a different life.

* * *

It was Autumn and the leaves already changed their color. It was one of Claire's favorite times, the cold breeze, the beautiful foliage and the most delicious scents in the streets, which only could be surpassed by the sweet scents during the Christmas time.

The last two months have been a blast. Every weekend she met Amber in Antoine's Bar and they simply talked and debated about the world. Amber would try to explain Claire art, while Claire did the same with science. In the end they both always came to the conclusion that they wouldn't figure out the others passion.

It was around 2 am and Antoine's bar was closed early, because today was a special day. Antoine would mix new cocktails and he decided that the two girls would be his test subjects.

"You sure look like a mad scientist with your apron, Antoine." Amber laughed, already quite drunk.

"Honey you would love to see me just in this apron, wouldn't you? But sorry, you're to girly for me." he countered smiling. Claire already had a few drinks and felt funny, but she didn't mind. In the last few weeks she came to the conclusion that she felt more than friendship for Amber, it was love, or atleast something she thought of as love. She hated the way she smiled when she thought about it, it was embarrassing and she thought she looked stupid with it.

"Here you go ladies. I call this one the Shattered Moon." he said proud, presenting three glasses of white liqueur with some red berries in it.

"Really? Shattered Moon? You are such a poet Antoine." Amber said.

"I think it's an excellent name for it, what do you think Claire?" they both looked at her and she froze.

"Uhhh,..., I, I think it's a fitting name, it looks beautiful and I bet it tastes awesome." she said while trying not to sound drunk.

"Oh Claire...You side with him? My heart is shattered for eternity!" Amber said while acting like the female leading role in every romance film. All three laughed hard. They all became close friends over the time, knowing they could always depend on the others. It was a great feeling for Claire, she loved both of them and wouldn't trade their friendship for anything else. But that didn't change her feelings about Amber. It was love for sure, but she didn't know how to deal with it, lacking any experience.

After 3 more drinks they decided to call it a day. Antoine was living in the apartment above his bar so he didn't have to leave. He wished the two girls a pleasant night as they left.

'Not much of a night left' Claire thought while carrying Amber. She hadn't noticed it, but Amber drank almost twice as many drinks as herself.

"Amber are you feeling well? You don't look so good." Claire said with concern in her voice. Amber turned around and wrapped her arms around Claire's neck, looking her into the eyes and smiling.

"You look so cute in the moonlight, you know that?" Amber said while swinging herself from the left to the right, still holding on to Claire.

"You,..., you think so?" Claire asked feeling herself blush hard. There they were, in the moonlight, so close to each other, only a few inches from each other's face.

'She looks so beautiful...' Claire thought as she tightened her grip on the drunk bluenette.

"You are drunk, Amber." she suddenly said.

'Wait, where did that came from? Am I stupid?' she thought not believing what she just said.

"Yeah, but so are you!" Amber giggled. She moved closer to Claire's face, not even a sheet of paper could fit between them. Claire panicked and started screaming internally.

'What do I do?' One part of her wanted this so bad, the other part just wanted to roll up into a blanket and never leave it again.

'You got this, you've read books about kissing ans you saw like every romance movie ever made, just copy what she's doing! God she smells so good... Wait, am I sniffing on her? I'm so weird, no way she didn't notice that. God what am I doing here? I can't kiss her, I'm not ready, this is...' she couldn't finish her last thought. Amber was done waiting for Claire to make her move and decided to take the wheel herself. She pulled Claire into a deep kiss while caressing her hips.

A thousand emotions ran through Claire, she felt like she was drunk, but in a good way. She couldn't describe this new feeling, even if she wanted to. During the kiss her Semblance activated itself and copied Amber, but Claire didn't care. Nothing was more important than this moment and probably nothing would ever be as important.

'This... this is so...' yet again interrupted in her thoughts, Amber broke the kiss and smiled brightly at Claire.

"Sorry, but i swear, you are SO slow, I actually thought about letting you stay here." Amber laughed.

"Lucky you that you're so cute when you overthink things." she said and kissed her again, this time a much softer and shorter kiss, but for Claire it still felt like a piece of heaven.

"Sorry,..., I'm not used to this,..., I guess I'm just nervous." Claire said trying to hide her face with her hair. Amber stroked her cheeks and smiled.

"I may be drunk, but if you're uncomfortable with this just tell me, I'm not going to be mad at you, promise." she said raising her pinky to confirm her vow.

"What?" Claire panicked again. "No, no, I loved it, I mean I have waited for this so long, why would I be uncomfortable with it?" she said quickly. Amber's eyes widened as she heard that.

"You've waited for this? Do you mean you had, like, a crush on me the whole time?" Claire felt a pain in her chest, like a dagger piercing her heart.

'What am i saying, i can't tell her!'

"Y...yes? I kinda liked you. Like from the first moment I saw you." she couldn't look Amber in the eyes, it was too much for her.

"Sorry, it was stupid, please forget what I said!" Claire turned around and started walking away.

'Stupid! So stupid, how could she ever love someone like you?'

"Claire wait up!" Amber tried to run after Claire, which was harder than she thought, due to her being drunk. Eventually Claire stopped and Amber finally catched up with her.

"Listen, I'm super sorry that I have put you in a position like that. I'm drunk and stupid." Amber said while trying not to puke.

"No, I should apologize, I was the one who turned the fun into a serious matter again." Claire tried to keep her tears at bay. Amber took Claire by the hand and pulled her into a hug.

"Listen, I get that you like me, like a lot, even though I don't understand why. I like you, too. Like majorly. You are the first real friend I had in years, and yeah, maybe I feel more than just friendship for you. I'm just super insecure about relationships and such things." she let go of Claire and looked her in the eyes, seeing a few tears.

"I didn't want to make you cry, sorry about that." Amber wiped Claire's tears careful away, as if they were little crystals.

"So...you like me?" Claire asked with hope in her voice. She just wanted an answer, any answer, just to finally know how she and Amber were interrelated. Amber cupped the brunettes face and placed a small, innocent kiss on her lips.

"Of course I do. You are a real klutz, why else would I kiss you?" she said with a smile.

"Hehe..." Claire wiped her remaining tears away.

"Well you are quite drunk." she laughed. Suddenly all the doubt she had about her relationship with Amber vanished. She felt such happiness like never before in her life.

"So...what are we now?" Claire asked. Amber just started laughing.

"You are so unbelievably cute, i guess we will see how this works out with the both of us, best if we don't force anything. If you want to that is. I for one would like to find out how this relationship develops." she pulled Claire in for a deep kiss again to wipe away any left doubts. After they broke the kiss again Claire smiled and said

"I'd love that. You don't know how happy I am right now." Claire couldn't stop herself from smiling.

The young lovers would stand there a few moments longer until they decided to head home.

"I think I'd like to wait with that for a bit, if you're ok with that." Claire said shy as Amber asked her if she wanted to stay tonight with her.

"Oh, yeah sure, don't worry, I won't do anything, if you're not totally sure about it." Amber answered.

"Thank you for your understanding." Claire said feeling a bit embarrassed.

They would kiss a few times more each time they said good bye until Claire finally said she had to leave now. Her mind was clouded by the older woman's scent and taste. 'I swear today is the best day in my life' Claire thought to herself.

She ran home as fast as she could, sneaking back inside. Her parents still were asleep and her little Sister was a hard sleeper anyways. Her brother Jacque was gone to a training camp with his team for 2 weeks, so that was no problem as well. When she used her semblance to change into her normal self, she could've sworn that the pain wasn't as bad as it usually was. When she fell asleep she dreamed the whole night of Amber. It was the best night of her life.

* * *

In another part of the city, Amber entered her apartment, smiling like a little child over its birthday presents. She took of her jacket and boots and went to the fridge to take out a late night snack which turned out to be a simple apple. Then she heard a noise behind her. With incredible speed she turned around and drew a gun out of her drawer pointing it to the source of the noise.

"Hold your horses, Amber. It's just me!" the young man said. He had long white hair and green eyes, his face had a few scars but all in all he was rather handsome.

"Damn it how many times do I have to tell you not to sneak into my apartment Galen!?" she placed the gun on the counter and started eating her apple.

"Yeah yeah, whatever, the boss was wondering why you missed the meeting today so he send me to check on you." he took a pause to see Ambers reaction but there was none.

"I must say, it was quite the tear jerking scene back there. Who is this little cutie?" Galen asked with a devilish smile. Ambers look turned from bored to enraged

"Don't you dare touch her! I swear I will skin you alive if you even lay as much as a finger on her!" he backed of holding his hands in the air.

"Woah, calm down girl, I just was curious. She looked nice." Amber cooled off and looked out of the window.

"Yeah, she is, and I really like her, so please don't tell this Caleb, he would only give me a speech and ruin it again." she pleaded him.

Galen sighed and said "I just tell him you got hammered again, ok?"

"Thank you Galen, I owe you big time." she said with a small smile.

"Yeah yeah, just don't overdo it, remember that the shipment will arrive here in a week." he said and headed to the door.

"I know, I know, I will be ready, promised." she said as Galen left.

That night Amber didn't find any sleep at all, her mind was running with all the problems she could cause for Claire.

* * *

She felt a hand on her shoulder shaking her softly.

"Wake up girl, it's already noon." Damian said as he tried to wake up Amber. She rubbed her eyes and looked at the old man.

"Hey, something wrong?" she asked. He smiled.

"Nope, it's just a new day and you're late for training." She stood up and said

"Are you kidding, I'm wounded and you want me to do out there for more training?"

Damian was already on his was to camp while yelling to her "Sure. Why not? You definitely need the training." he said with a big load of mockery.

"You're a bastard, you know that?" she yelled, while trying to hide a smile. That's exactly what she wanted. That's what she needed, she didn't want to have someone trying to keep her safe like an egg. She wanted someone who would actually push her to her limits. And Damian knew that.

'Old geezer, not so bad in the end, huh?'

The next few days Damian focused her training on close combat, so if anything like the Beowolf incident would ever happen again, she would be ready.


	3. Chapter 3

~~This chapter took me a bit longer, due to university. I will try to release one chapter each week.~~

* * *

The moon stood high in the sky and peaceful silence covered the forest. Suddenly sharp sound disturbed the peace. The giant lifeless body dropped to the ground and started to dissolve. The Blade was still covered with the blood as Amber turned to Damian who examined her precisely.

"A good kill, Amber. You really came far from the last time." he said while smiling.

It was true. Since she got hurt that bad by the Beowulf a few weeks ago, Damian had decided to teach her how to handle a real life Grimm rather than some Dummies. He figured that she needed the thrill and the heat of an actual battle where she could really get hurt to become better and it worked just nicely.

She grinned while cleaning Nightfall with a piece of cloth she always carried around for this reason.

"I know, it didn't stand a chance. So, wanna hunt down the next one?" she asked him, knowing that he would call it a day anyways.

"Don't get ahead of yourself Girl, those were only single Grimm. You have yet to learn how to handle a mob of them." he lectured her.

'It's true, but that's why I'm training that hard, isn't it?' she thought.

"I know, I know, but not all of us have a flashy semblance like you do, Damian. Some of us have to make do with what we have." she said while sticking her tongue out.

"Whatever you say, let's head back, you took so long, I'm hungry again." he mocked her.

"What? You said it was a good kill!" she said infuriated but Damian simply started laughing.

Back at camp, Kelly had already prepared Diner, as usually it was quite the feast. While Damian and Kelly would always eat like a young couple madly in love, sharing the food and feeding each other, Amber would simply watch them and smile. She thought it was beautiful how the two loved each other after all those years. About twenty years they were married now and Damien always said he would fall in love with her each day a new. She wondered how they'd do it. Kelly once told her that they had a son. While on one of their journeys, Damian went off to check the forest for Grimm, just like he always did. During that time their camp was attacked, not by Grimm that is, but by men. The raiders took everything valuable and took their son after beating Kelly unconscious. Amber figured that they did more to Kelly than just that, but she wouldn't dare to reopen that wound.

In an attack of wild rage and furry Damian followed the raiders as good as he could and eventually found them. Only problem was, he wasn't the first to find them. Their camp had been overrun by Grimm and they killed almost every of the men. Under all the dead he found the motionless body of his son, just laying there.

Neither Kelly, nor Damian would ever tell her what happened after. She couldn't imagine the pain they both felt, even now, so it was nice to see the two in their happy moments, just being an old couple, living their lives.

"Yeah..., I guess I'm going to take a walk guys." Amber said right when Damian and Kelly started sharing kisses. Not because she was embarrassed or uncomfortable, but she thought it would be nice to give the two some space for themselves.

'The forest sure is beautiful in this light.' Amber thought to herself. She found the nearby pond where Kelly washed their clothes and decided to take a midnight swim. She took of all her clothes and slowly entered the water. It was cold and refreshing, just as she liked it.

After swimming a bit around, she would simply let herself float atop of the water and look up to the sky. It was beautiful and breathtaking. There were so many stars, so many constellations which could only be seen outside of the big cities. It was so peaceful that she decided to close her eyes for a few seconds and simply let her mind wander.

* * *

It was a few weeks before Christmas and the whole city was decorated nicely. It was Claire's favorite time of the year. Not so much because it was so beautiful and everyone at least tried to be nice, but mostly it was the only time in the year in which her family actually acted like one. Both her parents would take corporate holiday and even her brother would not run of with his friends. In the past years this has been her reassurance that her parents loved their children, sure, in their own ways, but still, they loved them. But this year's Christmas time would be special, because Claire had someone special. Amber and her were dating now for almost three months now and they've grown very close to each other. The couple tried to spend every moment they could with each other, which wasn't that easy, due to school and Claire's family.

Claire gazed out of the window admiring the snow.

'We still haven't slept with each other...' she thought.

'Wow..., that was a random thought.' she realized while blushing hard.

The bar was filled with young couples around this time of the year, Antoine told her.

"She's still not here?" Antoine asked her as he brought her a hot chocolate.

She sighed "No, she said we would meet at six, but maybe she has to work longer today?"

It was already fifteen minutes to eight and still no sign of Amber, not even a single message.

"Don't worry honey, she'll be here. You know what an airhead she can be sometimes." he said while placing a hand on her shoulder.

During all this month's Antoine had become Claire's best advisor for romantic matters and he did a great job at that.

Right in that moment the door opened and a cold wisp of wind entered the bar. There she was, her blue hair partially covered with a knit cap. She was wearing a warm looking mantle and some high boots. All in all she looked as lovely as always.

Claire smiled when Amber came closer and kissed her.

"I already thought you would leave me waiting here till next year." Claire said jesting.

Amber let herself fall on the chair opposite to Claire and sighed hard.

"Sorry 'bout that, work just had been crazy. So how are you Baby?" she smiled knowing it would melt Claire's heart as it always did.

"Don't give me that look, I'm trying to be mad with you here." she said trying to hide her laugh.

Amber leaned over the table and tried to kiss Claire but she would always pull back in the last second with a big devilish smile on her lips.

"Nuh uh lady, not so easy. You have to make it up to me. I've waited quite some time here for you." Claire said and placed her index finger on Ambers lips. It was quite funny for Claire to see her lover trying to think of something to make her happy again. You could almost see the smoke coming out of her head.

Suddenly there was a little spark in Ambers eyes and she stood up and came close to Claire's ear and whispered seductive "How about we head to my place and I make it up to you the right way? I honestly can't wait to get you out of those clothes."

Claire couldn't see herself, but she blushed as red as a red dust crystal. She gulped and turned to Amber.

"Well,..., that sounds like a good start." she tried to sound as smooth as possible.

"So, wanna leave then?" Amber asked and offered her a hand. Claire took it and after she paid they both started to walk to Ambers place. It was a thirty minute walk from the walk so they had time to talk, or at least they would've, but Amber kept whispering the sweetest things in Claire's ear, to keep her excited.

They reached the building when suddenly a voice called out from behind.

"Hey Amber, boss's calling, we need to go."

They turned around and Claire saw a man with long, white hair and quite the collection of scars on his face. She didn't like his smirk, it looked simply wrong.

"Are you kidding me? Tell Caleb that I'm done for today! I said I had a date today so bugger of!" Amber yelled at Galen but he just kept smirking. He took a few steps forward and stood right in front of Claire. She looked up in his face waiting for any reaction, but he simply took her hand and kissed it.

"I am truly sorry to interrupt your evening ma'am. But as I just explained, our little company really needs Amber for a bit longer. You wouldn't want that our little hothead here get's any problems, right?" he said with an evil grin.

"Are you threatening me Galen?" Amber pushed him away from Claire and came close to him intimidating him.

"I would never think of something like that, I'm just saying that the boss might not like this. And this time I can't cover for you." he explained as he started walking away.

Amber turned to Claire "Sorry about that, he's an ass. So, wanna come up with me? I still have to apologize for earlier." she smiled.

"I, I actually think you should go with him, I don't want you to have any problems because of this." Claire said. And she was honest. She was concerned what her boss would do to her if she wouldn't appear.

Amber never talked much about her work, and Claire was ok with that. She couldn't expect her to share all her secrets and stories if she was lying to her all the time. In the end, she still was just a girl using her Semblance to be someone else.

"What? No Claire this is our night. I want to be with you." Amber said pulling Claire closer.

"I know..., but still. I think you should go. It did sound important. And by the way. We can still do it next time." Claire said, trying to comfort Amber with a little smile.

The slender bluenette walked in circles for a few second thinking hard. When she finally came to a conclusion she turned to Claire and gave her the keys of her apartment.

"So here's the deal. I go to work and finish as fast as I can, while you stay at my place. I promise I won't take that long. And knowing that you are waiting here will definitely drive me to come back faster." she said.

"Are you sure? I mean I could turn out to be a burglar. Maybe I have planed this the whole time just to get into your place." Claire said with a smile.

Amber laughed. "Well then I have to say, you know how to make a good heist." she kissed Claire softly and started walking off.

"Just don't start without me!" Amber said with a big smile on her face.

'Well I guess it's time to head up then' she thought, but her body wouldn't move. She thought about it and the longer she thought the more she realized that this would be her best chance to find out what Amber is actually working on. It was a disgusting thought, but she simply had to know what her love was doing. Maybe she could help her. Maybe Amber even was in danger. What the white haired guys said didn't sound that nice.

She took the decision to follow her, but she couldn't just go as herself. Claire ran into a dark alley and started using her Semblance. The pain wasn't as bad as usual, because she learned to control it over the time. She decided to turn into a blonde with short hair. Also she would be a bit smaller than her regular self and maybe a bit more weight. She checked her reflection in a window and nodded.

'That way she won't realize it's me.' she thought as she started running after Amber.

It didn't took long for Claire to catch up to her. She was heading down to some old warehouses. They all looked abandoned for quite some time and nothing gave a hint that anyone was actually working here.

'What is she doing here?' she thought. At this very moment Amber stopped in front of a warehouse with the designation 'Warehouse 27, Port street'. Amber opened the door and went inside. Claire intended to do the same so she sneaked to the entrance. It was a big old door of metal which had some graffiti on it. She used the door handle and it opened. To Claire's big surprise the inside was empty. No one was inside, just some old machines which had seen some better days. She looked around hoping to find some hint on where Amber went.

"Told you, finding her wasn't the problem, getting her here was the real challenge" two big men entered the building and Claire instinctively hid behind one of the machines.

"Yeah I know. But who'd expect there to be so many guards?"

The two brutes went to a wall near the entrance and pushed something, which Claire couldn't identify. There was a sound like a crack and suddenly a hidden door opened right behind the two giants.

'A trap door? Classy.' she thought.

The men went down and disappeared in the ground. As the entrance closed itself Claire stood up and went to the wall. There were some old manuals for the machines pined to it but nothing else caught her eye until she found a little hole in a brick. It was big enough that one could fit in a finger.

As she put in her finger she could feel a button in the hole and she decided to push it. The entrance opened once more and Claire went down. This turned out to be quite the adventure, but she simply wanted to make sure that Amber was save.

The stairs went down for some time until she reached their end. There was a single corridor with a big door in the end.

'Should I really do this? If Amber finds out, she will hate me forever. But on the other hand, she could be in danger here.'

She pluck up courage and opened the door.

There were so many crates in there, it was hard to determine how big this place actually was. Big headlights in the whole room flooding it with light. She could hear some people talk and the rumbling of some machines. One of the crates was open and she looked into it. It was some kind of powder and she came to the conclusion that this must've been dust. But what would Amber do in this place? What did she do with Dust?

Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around. She was facing one of the two brutes which had entered before her.

"Hey there little bird. Looks like you have chosen the wrong place to play." He smiled with cruel intentions and threw her over his shoulder with ease.

"Let me down this instance!" she screamed while hitting him on his back with all her might, which wasn't that much as she thought.

The giant did not talk, he simply would carry her to a door past some other workers who all where observing them. He opened the door and entered something that looked like an office and threw Claire on a chair in front of a table.

'This must be their bosses office, they want to intimidate me now' she realized. It was almost a cliché. The big brute, the small office, a single chair and the bosses table. Right out of a movie.

A second door opened and a man with short black hair entered the room. His face actually looked nice and calm, but there was something in his eyes which scared Claire.

"Well, well, well, look at this. Seems we have a guest, right George? Now little girl, tell me, who send you?" he leaned close to her and looked right into her eyes.

"No one send me,..., I just happened to find this place..." she lied. Claire looked on the floor out of fear.

The man put a finger under her chin and raised her head to face him. He gave her a little smile which didn't give any comfort. It was terrifying, she never saw a man with that kind of look on his face. But still, for a second Claire thought he would let her go, but instead he slapped her across the face hard enough to make her cry.

"Listen Blondie, I'm a busy man, I have no time for games. So you better start telling me who send you or my friend here will start breaking your bones, starting with your little hands." his smile had changed into a dead serious face.

"I swear no one send me! I just wanted to see where my friend went! She is here somewhere, ask her! Her name is Amber." she cried.

Claire couldn't believe how little it took for her to tell him everything. She felt like a complete failure.

"That so?" He turned to the brute. "George, be a pal and get me Night. And hurry up please."

The giant simply nodded and took off. The man pulled out a gun and placed it on the table and then sat down on his chair.

"Well, I tell you what will happen now. George will bring me Amber, and she will tell me if she knows you or not. If you've been lying to me, I will shoot you in the face, sound good?" there it was again, this smile, this terrifying smile of his.

"Please I swear I..." Claire was interrupted by the opening door.

"What do you want Caleb, I don't have time for another appointment today, so forget it." Amber entered the office and looked pissed. It took her a second to notice the blonde girl on the chair.

"Who is that? Friend of yours?" she asked.

In this moment it hit Claire. She wasn't looking like herself. There was no chance Amber would recognize her.

"Well, seems you have a problem now little one." Caleb said raising his gun and pointing it at Claire.

"WAIT! Amber, it's me, Claire! I'm sorry I followed you, but I had to find out what you were doing!" she cried. Amber looked confused and turned to Caleb signalizing him not to shoot.

Amber leaned close and said "My girlfriend is waiting in my apartment for me to return. Do you really expect me to believe this load of bullshit?"

Claire shook her head "It is true, I even have your keys with me, check my pocket!"

Amber waited a few seconds before doing so and indeed, her keys were in the pocket of this girl. But instead of smiling Ambers face turned pale. She grabbed Claire by the face and yelled at her "Where did you get those keys? What did you do to Claire?" she tightened her grip.

"Please stop! You gave them to me! Let me show you!" Claire plead. But Amber didn't let go of her. Suddenly Caleb interrupted them by shooting to the ceiling.

"Amber, let go of our guest. I'm curious on what she wants to show us." he said with his mad smile.

"Are you kidding me? She might've hurt my Claire and you want to play games with him?" she screamed. At this moment George took Amber away from Claire.

"The boss said to stand down, so stand down!" he yelled at Amber. That really did the job, she was quite now and just looked at the scene.

Caleb turned to Claire. "Now, you wanted to show us something." he said.

Claire nodded and focused. This would be the moment she always feared. She would reveal her Semblance to Amber. But there was no other way. The three of them watched Claire as her body started to change and after a few seconds and some screams of pain Claire turned to herself again. Or at least the version of her that Amber knew. She had tears in the eyes and looked for Amber. Ambers look was filled with disbelieve and shock.

"How..., how is that even possible?" Amber asked. She came closer to Claire and touched her face to make sure it really is her.

"I'm sorry I've never told you, but I have a Semblance. I can change my appearance. I'm so sorry Amber, please forgive me." Claire started crying.

"How heartbreaking. I love it. It's simply perfect. But now, we still have a problem here. There is a girl in my base! So Amber what's it going to be?" Caleb asked.

Amber knew what her options where. It wasn't the first time that someone had found one of their bases. Caleb would give them two options if one of his workers actually knew them. Work for Caleb and make yourself implicated for everything they did, or simply die right there, on spot.

Amber stood between Claire and Caleb. "She will work for us. I vouch for her. She won't betray us." she said.

"Good, then get out and brief her about her new workplace." he said with so much joy, it made Amber sick.

Amber helped Claire up. She was still under shock and crying. She led her into a little room with a bed and a desk in it. She placed Claire down on the bed and sat next to her.

"I'm sorry that I hurt you back there. I really thought you were a fraud." she apologized and laid her arms around the weeping Claire. "Why did you never tell me about your Semblance? I thought we wanted to stay true to each other?"

Claire tried to calm down "You never told me what you were doing here." she couldn't look at Amber, she was simply to afraid.

"I would've told you if you would've asked me to. I love you Claire. Why should I have secrets from you?" she explained.

'She is right, I never asked what exactly what she's doing.' she realized 'What kind of girlfriend am I actually, not caring about her work?' with this thought she started crying again and Amber took her into her arms and caressed her head softly to calm her down.

"I'm not angry at you. There is no need to cry. I'm just glad that Caleb didn't..." she didn't dare to end her sentence.

'I can't lie to her anymore..., I need to tell her.' Claire decided.

"Listen Amber..." but before she could talk the door opened and George entered the room.

"Your shift is over now Night, you can go, and take her with you. Boss said he will give you her first job in a few days." with that the giant left.

"Jerk..." Amber said "What did you want to say honey?" she looked at Claire.

Claire felt like she was about to puke. "I tell you at your place. I need to get out of here."

"Ok, got it, let's go." she agreed and they left together.

None of the girls dared to disturb the silence while they walked to Ambers place. It was cold outside and the snow gracefully felt down. There was no one in the streets, it felt like a ghost town. By the time they reached Ambers place, Claire was freezing hard and simply wanted to get into some place warm.

Ambers apartment was in the third floor. As the door opened Claire entered a place that screamed of live. There where souvenirs of every place Amber had went to in every corner of the room. Some paintings and pictures decorated the walls and there were some sculptures of women placed along the windows. It simply looked marvelous, just as Claire had imagined Ambers apartment.

"You can throw your stuff on the sofa, I get you something to drink." Amber said as she threw her jacket in some corner. She went an open place in the room which turned out to be the kitchen and started making coffee for the two of them.

"Thank you." Claire said, still shaking from the cold. She folded her jacket and placed it on the sofa and walked around, looking at the pictures. Amber was on every single one of them. On some, she was on a beach, some were in a city and one even looked like it was made atop of a mountain. It was clear for Claire that Amber was quite the adventurer.

"I look horrible on this one." Amber commented a picture, which Claire was looking at.

"I think you look cute with short hair." She said "It definitely suits you."

"So you don't like my hair like that?" Amber asked while playing with her long hair.

"No, I just think you can wear any style you like." Claire panicked and apologized quickly. She felt like she had a talent for saying the wrong things in the right moments.

"I was just messing with you, lighten up." Amber said with a smile while pushing her gentle. She noticed that Claire was starting to think about her words again and decided to interrupt her before she would end up being mad at herself.

"You're awful! You know, I've been threatened today. You can be a bit nicer to me." Claire said with a little smile, hoping to make a good joke, but the sad look on Ambers face didn't look like she thought it was funny at all.

"You know, this was a serious matter. You were in real danger Claire. I thought Caleb would lose it. He is dangerous!" Amber lectured her while holding her hands, looking more concerned than ever. Claire had never seen her like this. Sure, it wasn't pretty, but they were alright, weren't they? Nothing bad happened, besides a slap to the face, but Claire had endured worse than that. The use of her Semblance felt like each bone in her body would break and as if her skin been ripped off each time she used it.

'My Semblance! I wanted to tell Amber the truth!' She remembered.

"Hey Amber? I need to tell you something. It's important." Claire said without looking at Amber. She decided to sit down on the sofa and waited for Amber to join her.

"Uh, sure. What's up? You,..., you don't look so well. Are you feeling alright?" Amber asked, checking Claire for some injuries or some other sign of pain.

"I'm not feeling well, Amber. I,..., I've been lying to you... The whole time." she confessed still looking to the ground not able to face her lover. She felt Ambers hand on her shoulder comforting her.

"What do you mean? What could you've possibly lied about?" she asked with concern in her voice. Amber was hoping for some childish thing, like that she lied to her about something like her work, or about some of her hobbies. Something she could handle with ease. But it turned out different.

"I'm not the woman you think I am. I'm not even a woman yet. I'm 17 years old." Claire whispered, almost choking on her own words.

'There it is. The truth. Now you can see how she leaves you forever and it's your own fault.' Claire thought, working hard to keep her tears at bay.

"What do you mean? I mean, look at you. You could never be 17. How could that..." Amber couldn't finish her sentence.

Claire decided to show her instead of telling her. She used her Semblance and changed back to her original self. Even though it didn't look that different, one could recognize that she was still young. Younger than the woman Amber knew at least.

"There... That's me. The real me. I used my Semblance to look older, because I simply wanted to have some fun at the beginning. But then I met you and I wanted to get to know you. I was afraid that you wouldn't notice me if I were myself. I panicked and decided to lie to you. I fell in love with you and soon there was no way for me to tell you the truth anymore. You would hate me. And I bet you hate me now." Claire admitted.

The truth that had been like a dagger in her heart was finally ripped out, but it was Amber who would decide if she would survive or bleed to death. Amber looked like she had seen a ghost. There was a mix of disbelieve and betrayal in her eyes which broke Claire's heart. She had broken Ambers heart, she betrayed her and there was nothing that she could do to make it up to her.

Claire decided to leave and stood up slowly. After she took her things she went to the door and opened it.

"I'm truly sorry. You are,..., You are the best thing that happened to me,..., in my whole life and I just brought pain to you. I don't deserve you." she said, tears rolling down her cheeks. She had no control of her voice, it simply broke while speaking.

"Wait." she heard Ambers voice behind her, almost as weak as a whisper. "Please come back."

Claire turned around and saw that Amber was crying silently. There were big tears rolling down her pretty face. Unsure what to do she would slowly walk towards Amber who still was sitting on the sofa. Claire sat down next to her and looked in Ambers face, hoping that she would say anything, that she would say something.

Suddenly Amber hugged her and whined more than before.

"Please...don't leave me..." she cried, tightening her grip on Claire.

'Why isn't she mad at me? I was so bad to her, I only abused her trust.' Claire thought in shock.

She laid he arms around her and held her close.

"Why? Why don't you want me to leave? I just hurt you. I made you cry, so why don't you yell at me? Hit me, insult me, just do something!" Claire plead. She didn't understand why Amber didn't react at all. Claire would be more than heartbroken in the same situation.

"I told you before." Amber lifted her head and faced Claire. "I love you. And nothing can change that."

She pulled Claire into a deep kiss. It wasn't a wild kiss like the ones they would usually share, nor one of the small little peck they used in public. It felt like Amber tried to tell her with it, that she loved her, eternally. After some time they broke their kiss and looked at each other. Claire then decided to wipe away the remaining tears on Ambers face and she on the other hand did the same to Claire.

"I love you, too. And I promise, I will never lie to you anymore." Claire said as she pulled Amber into a hug.

"It's alright. I'm just glad you told me. And if you can live with the fact of you being only 17, so can I. And it's only one and a half month till you turn 18, so there's nothing wrong about it. You are more mature than the most people I know." Amber said, hoping it would comfort her.

"I thought you would hate me or at least break up with me if I told you." Claire said.

"No you Klutz! How could I hate you? You are the first person I actually love. I wouldn't want to lose that for anything in the world." she explained.

"Sorry again about all that happened." Claire apologized and placed a soft kiss on Ambers lips. As they parted they smiled at each other. They would stay like this and talk about their relationship and everything that happened until they fell asleep.

* * *

Back in the warehouse Caleb was walking into a room. Inside of it there was nothing but a chair with a white haired girl tied to it.

"Well, Miss Schnee, I hope my friend George wasn't that rough to you? We wouldn't want to hurt you, little princess." he said in mockery.

Weiss looked up in the face of her kidnapper. Her eyes were filled with tears and there was fear in her eyes.

"What do you want from me? Please. My father will give you all the money you want. Just let me go!" she plead.

"I'm sorry, but we have different plans with your father Miss Schnee. But don't worry, nothing bad will happen to you." he said while caressing her face and started laughing madly.

* * *

There was no air and she felt like drowning. Instinctively she swam up and gasped.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Amber screamed, looking for her attacker. She was ready to defend herself.

Suddenly she heard a noise from behind and she turned around as fast as she could. There he was, her attacker. It turned out to be a fearsome duck.

'A duck... You almost suffocated because of a duck. Stupid bird.' she thought to herself. Amber scared the bird of and decided it would be time to leave the water. She must've been in the pond for almost one hour, or at least she felt like it. She would dry herself and put on her clothes and go back to camp where Damian and Kelly where sleeping in each other's arms. It was quite the cute picture she thought and decided to put up some more wood in the fire.

'At least they won't freeze' she smiled as she went into her tent. It was quite late and Damian would push her to her limits again tomorrow. She could use the sleep.

* * *

~~We are reaching the end of Ambers past. There will be two more chapters about it before I start writing her present story. I hope you liked it till now.~~


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